Blanket Drive and Related Programs

"Each winter ANA sends out many essential items. I especially enjoy distributing the new ... blankets to the old grandmothers on the Reservation . Sure the Navajo weave gorgeous wool blankets, but these are their livelihood, which they sell to buy the necessities of life. Often the older women come into the trader with a priceless rug to sell while they themselves are wrapped in an old K-Mart special full of holes. It is a real prize for these folks who live in single room dwellings (often with dirt floors, outdoor bathrooms and with subzero weather in the wintertime) to be given a warm, new, sturdy, and colorful blanket."

-Kent Hodges - ANA Field Coordinator

The Blanket Drive Program was ANA's first program to assist Native Americans.  It has been extremely successful.  We have negotiated with the Woolrich Company to have them send new blankets to Gallup where they are distributed to those most in need.  Many of the blankets go to dialysis patients who may travel many hours several times a week for treatments.  (See photographs)  Your donation of $25 will purchase one blanket, an essential for keeping warm in the freezing Southwest winters in homes where there is little or no heat source.

However, blankets are not the only needed item on the reservations.  For several years after the initial two tons of blankets were sent, a semi-trailer was filled annually with donated clothing items, blankets and books and shipped by rail to the Southwest.

Many people on the reservation do not have mittens, scarves, hats or other winter clothing either.  Each Christmas ANA sponsors a "mitten tree" at a local business.  Employees and patrons hang hats, mittens, scarves and socks on the tree throughout the holiday season.  These items are then shipped out to be distributed to those on the Reservation who need them most.   Other businesses have collected supplies for schools on the reservation.  Recent successes include:

• For Christmas 2004, Indian Princesses took the initiative to have a tree decorated with children's hats and mittens at the Doylestown, Pennsylvania YMCA.
• Two Boy Scouts have coordinated with ANA for their Eagle Projects.
  • The first project collected $1,400 through his school's National Honor Society to supply blankets to dialysis patients and their family members who often spend the night, sometimes in their cars.
  • The second project collected $2,500 for clothing and school supplies which were sent to the Gallup area to be distributed.
• Doylestown Presbyterian Church (Doylestown, Pennsylvania) and St. Andrew's School (Newtown, Pennsylvania) collected hats, mittens and gloves which were sent to Tuba City, Arizona for distribution on the Hopi Reservation.
• Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Doylestown, Pennsylvania has been especially involved over the years and has collected a great number of blankets and clothing.   The late Msgr. Teller of Mount Carmel was one of the three original founders of ANA.

In addition, ANA has sent funding to the nurses at Rehobeth-McKinley so that they can purchase Christmas gifts for their patients.  The following is a quote from the Rehobeth-McKinley newsletter in the winter of 2002.  "Santa came early this year for RMCHCS Dialysis Program patients.  Thanks to the generosity of Americans for Native Americans (ANA), nearly 300 dialysis patients at RMCHCS centers in Gallup, Zuni and Crownpoint received gift certificates, blankets, warm clothing and a little Christmas cheer."   (See photographs)

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Date this page was last edited: 10/13/2008